"I've always been empathetic toward my mom, and I was even more so when I had a kid and we had a really amazing conversation about it," Barrymore, 39, said of her mother Jaid. "However, it hasn't enabled me to lessen the distance. It's the hardest subject in my life. I've never just been angry with her. I've always felt guilt and empathy and utter sensitivity. But we can't really be in each other's lives at this point."

"I was so scared. I didn't know anything. I didn't know you had to throw food out when it rotted in the fridge. I was convinced someone was going to crawl through my window," she said. "I would go to the Laundromat and sit there reading Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath."

Now married to Will Kopelman and pregnant with their second child, Barrymore loves the stability that her in-laws have given her -- and is even hoping for a third child in the coming years.

"This is so safe and positive and healthy because [the Kopelmans] have their values intact," she said. "It was huge for me. And that's what I want for my family."